Bridges
by BonesBird
Summary: A case in St Louis challenges the team.  Hotch/OC   AU   Case-fic
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Bridges  
****Summary: A case in St Louis challenges the team. (Hotch/OC) (AU) (Case-fic)  
****Disclaimer: The only character I own is Bethan. Everyone else is of someone else's imagination.**

**Obviously this is all coming out of my imagination. It's been written a long while but unposted. So while I'm struggling to find some real inspiration I'll post this up.**

The morning dawned cold and bleak over the bay. In the shadow of the bridge he felt like there was little he could do to control the beating of his heart past how he had already controlled it. He wasn't sure how he would be able to break away from this nightmare, however everything his head told him was counteracted by the thunderous pounding behind his eyes, and the water running past his ears. He tried to move his head and felt the blade of the shovel beside him. On the other side he knew the unforgiving boot that had led him to this situation. The dirt was course and getting everywhere, in his hair, mouth, ears. He heard the man talking to somebody, and another voice answering. He made a gentle moaning sound, trying to push himself up slightly so he could look around him.

He managed to raise his head just enough to look over the shovel and see the vastness of the river flowing beside him, to see the legs next to him. He barely had time to begin moving to crawl away, before the clattering of a shovel reached his ears, and within seconds his senses went dark.

- 4 days earlier-

"Hotchner" Hotch answered his phone. Bethan laid on her stomach on the blanket beside him, watching Ffion, Cerys and Jack on the playground with Suzanne and her most recent boyfriend. "Are you sure JJ?" He asked, narrowing his eyes as she passed information on to him, he felt Bethan's hand squeeze his knee, before she pushed herself up. "Call everyone in. No need to call Beth she's with me" he hung up and looked at her as she shuffled towards him.

"I'm guessing we're needed at work?" She asked, rhetorically, before shaking her head. "It seems impossible to have one weekend with the kids."

"The problems of working in the FBI. I supposed we should go and say goodbye" he motioned everyone over, taking Suzanne aside and letting Bethan say goodbye to the kids herself.

"We've been called in to a case in St Louis. We'll be back as soon as we can be?"

"Aaron, Beth's still getting used to this change. Keep an eye on her." Suzanne told him, always worried for her sister, and after everything that had gone on since their relationship had become public knowledge, she had been both more uptight and more open. It had confused him, but he was beginning to get over it

"I will Sooz, We've got to go" He hugged Jack and the girls, then pulled Bethan away before she could start thinking about giving her girls another hug. They travelled in to Quantico, neither talking, both concentrating on the fact that they were about to leave on another gruesome case, and likely not return for a few days at least, a few weeks at most. They would be there for as long as they were needed.

"It's a bad one" JJ said without preamble as the team took their places in the round table room. The room seemed empty without Rossi and Veronica. But since Rossi's re-retirement, and Veronica's transfer, the team hadn't had a case. Bethan took her usual seat between Carrie and Reid, making eye contact with the rest of the team. "3 men in the last 4 weeks have been found in and around bridges in St Louis. Graham Hardy was an electrician from the city, Scott Vickers was a lawyer for a personal injury firm and Robert Patino was a store owner. So far there is no connection between the men"

"Garcia" Hotch said, flicking his eyes from JJ to Garcia momentarily. Garcia gathered her files and turned to leave the room almost immediately.

"On it, bossman" She called, shutting the door as she left. The rest of the team mulled over the photographs, sharing insights into the way the bodies were found, half buried in ditches beside the water. They all fell silent as they looked to Hotch for the final decision. Knowing already that they were going to St Louis.

"Wheels up in one" he commanded, and watched as his team filed out.

Hotch stood at the first disposal site with Morgan, looking down the river towards another bridge, where they both knew that Bethan and Reid were looking at another disposal site. They had been in St Louis only a few hours, but already they had an idea of the UnSub's victimology. They had an idea of how he was finding his victims, thanks to Garcia's super sleuthing. But as to the UnSub's motivation, they were still blank, and would likely remain blank for a while.

"Hotch, look at this"

"Drag marks?" He asked the question for confirmation of his thoughts. Morgan nodded and pointed to the boot prints all around them

"All the same size" Morgan said, measuring them against his. "Maybe a 13"

"Not from the techs then?" Hotch replied, building on what they were discovering.

"The ground was dry when they were collecting evidence, no footprints"

"Did they gather any other evidence" he asked to the detective, James Hatter, who was stood behind them. His glare seemed to take the young detective aback

"No sir, only what we already sent to your techs"

"We don't have much to go on from this scene Hotch, I mean. This is isolated, and difficult to access, but 13 is a big size, if this guy is a big guy he could easily have gotten down here with a body alone"

"We need to regroup with the others. Find out what they learnt at the other sites. Then I want you and Carrie to go to the coroners office, while I and the others start learning about our victims."

"Sure Hotch. This is gonna be a long one" Morgan said, before climbing the narrow, stone stairs to the top of the bridge, Hotch following an instant later.

* * *

"Did you find anything at your scene?" Bethan asked the minute Morgan walked into the squad room at the police station. She and Reid had been working on a map for a few minutes, trying find the area between the disposal sites, their efforts had been hampered by the relative proximity of the first two sites, they were within sight distance, it had made the profile very narrow, and unlikely to be of much help.

"A whole lot of nothing. The guy dumped when it was muddy and had big feet"

"Same with ours, no fibres, no hair, nothing" Bethan commented, looking down to the map she was sat on the edge of. Gently tugging Reid's arm to bring him away from his work for a moment

"Its like this guy knows what he is doing. Are Carrie and Emily back?"

"Yeah, Carrie went to the bathroom, I think Emily is talking to Detective Stamper."

"I gotta take Carrie to the ME. Keep working guys" Morgan said, smiling as he walked away, Bethan leaned back over with Reid, debating again why the geographical profile in this case wouldn't be helpful. She waved at Carrie as she headed out the door.

"What do we need to get this profile bouncing, Spen?" She asked, eventually getting fed up

"Another body" he replied simply, before looking shocked at his suggestion

"I can't just give you that, anything I can do?"

"I doubt it" He replied, as Hotch walked through the door, running his hands over his face. He walked over to Reid and Bethan, who had been joined by Prentiss.

"Call it a night, its getting late, there isn't much we can pull up here. Lets let Carrie, Morgan and Garcia get us some results. Take some time, sleep. We'll regroup in the morning" he told them, watching as they all grabbed their bags and headed for the door. He was unsurprised when Bethan handed him his bag, then took his hand, dragging him to the SUV

"When you say 'call it a night'" she paused, glaring at him "you did mean yourself too" she scolded, and forced him in. "You need to sleep too" she murmured, as Prentiss started the SUV to take them to the hotel.


	2. Chapter 2

**More, more? Of course. Long, long chapter for me. I swear to god it's a plot point. **

**Huge thanks to my friend clarebones who writes this series with me. Her fic "What Happens In Vegas" using the same characters was nominated for a "Profilers Choice" award!**

* * *

Once again he came round to the sound of grunting and shovelling dirt. He groaned, feeling the pounding behind his eyes, and the separate pounding between his ears start afresh. He groped in the soil, for anything he could use as a weapon before the next attack. His hands came up empty in the general vicinity where his hands had been placed. He gently rubbed the dirt away, down to the stone, and still found little he could use as a weapon. The scraping came to a halt once again, and he heard the grunt and thud of something being thrown into the freshly dug hole. He laid himself still, as he was dragged slightly away.

- 3 days earlier-

As the morning arrived, Bethan didn't want to get out of bed to face another day of gruesome discoveries. She was feeling terrible, her stomach was in knots, and she tasted bile at the back of her throat. She knew she had to get on with the case, and she was sure Carrie would have found something missed in the autopsies, and that Garcia would have found a common link for their victims. After finally pulling herself out of the bed she She walked down to the common area of the hotel, so far, only Carrie was in the room,

"Ayup love, you get anything after we left you at the ME's office?" she asked, sitting down on the sofa next to her, stifling a yawn as she did

"Not much. Non-lethal blunt force trauma to the head. Dirt in the nose, mouth, trachea and oesophagus. Consistent with being buried alive." Carrie put a hand over her mouth as she yawned as well, it was too early. "I couldn't find a speck of trace anywhere on the bodies, besides all the dirt they were buried in."

"So they were just... buried?" Bethan shuddered, clasping her hands together in her lap, and shaking her head at Carrie "urgh, what a way to go"

"I know right? But you wanna know the creepy part?" Carrie leant closer to her, talking conspiratorially

"Pray tell?" Bethan asked, leaning in as well, as if they were sharing girlie gossip

"Clearly they were knocked out before they were buried. They weren't buried very deep though, a man that size and strength could have dug his way out. I can't figure out how they woke up enough to ingest and inhale that much dirt, but couldn't dig themselves out. I ran tox screens and got nothing." she clapped her hands on her knees with the last word, dropping her voice again as she finished her thought. "It's like they just laid there and waited to die."

"What if they were still unconscious after they were buried. Wouldn't they still inhale enough?" Profiler or not, she was still a cop, and to her that would be an obvious explanation, she knew that Carrie would explain why it was something more complicated.

"It's possible, but I don't think they could have inhaled quite that much. Not to mention even with those head injuries, it would have taken them a few hours to suffocate down there. They would have come to before they completely suffocated." she shook her head,

"Are there nerve agents that could be masked by the bodies own hormones." Bethan questioned, thinking back to something she'd heard at school

"There are some that could have kept them sedated but worked their way out of the victim's system by the time I ran the tox. I wish Spence had been there with me last night. I don't have a quarter of the memory for these things that he does. He'll know what to look for."

"Well, I'll see if I can get you two both to the MEs office. I'm not feeling great today, I don't want to be out in the field" Bethan rubbed her stomach, still feeling queasy

"I hear ya sister, I'm running on caffeine and adrenaline myself. And I have a feeling this is going to be a long case." Carrie didn't seem to catch Bethan meaning she felt truly sick.

"Probably. I think I ate something a bit dodgy yesterday, I'm really queasy. The last thing I want is a long case." She hated to even think of it being a long case.

"Want me to write you a prescription? Might as well, since Uncle Sam pays for it." Carrie laughed, causing Bethan to return it, feeling genuinely happy

"If I knew what it was, I'd say yes. You know what I'm like with prescriptions." She shook her head, looking at her hands. "Hope they all hurry up, so I can explain to Aaron that I'm feeling crappy and would prefer to be with you and Spen today. He can partner JJ with Morgan."

"Sounds good to me. If we each examine one of the three bodies we'll definitely find something much faster." Carrie grinned, clearly excited to spend a day on case with her best friends

"I'm not really a doctor, in any way. I'm a police officer" Bethan felt the need to remind Carrie, grimacing at the idea of touching a body. She investigated the circumstances of their death, very rarely was she ever involved in finding out how they died.

"Spence and I will help you. Trust me, an extra pair of eyes will be a huge help. Medically trained or not." Carrie reassured her, rubbing a hand on her leg.

"Sure, though I tell you now. If I throw up, its all your fault." Bethan looked round as Hotch and Reid came out of the elevator. "Finally!" she called, running up to him "I'm gonna hang with Carrie and Spencer today, help them determine cause of death"

"What's up, Beth?" he asked, concern in his voice

"I'm not feeling well, just a tummy bug, I probably picked it up off one of the kids. I don't think I'd be any use in the field today" she replied

"Take Carrie and Reid to the ME, and call in with any news, call me if you still aren't feeling well later" he whispered, squeezing her hand, before watching Morgan, Prentiss and JJ stand around them. He gave out the days assignments, before giving Bethan a small smile as they separated for the day.

* * *

"Did you think I would fail you boss?" Hotch had to laugh at the lightness in Garcia's tone, a counterpoint to his worried demeanour. He was not only worried about the sparse details on this case, but about Bethan and her illness, she and all the kids had been complaining of stomach pain over the last few days. The kids had gotten over it, but Bethan had gotten steadily sicker since she had first come down with symptoms. For her to be feeling bad enough to be taken out of the field he had to worry.

"Never Garcia, What have you got?"

"Well. I couldn't connect your three guys to any one place. I connected them to 7, to be exact. They had probably come across each other at some point. I've sent all the points to your phone"

"Great. What else can you tell us about them baby girl" Morgan asked from his position next to Hotch, JJ and Prentiss were out talking to the victims families, leaving the two of them working what profile they could gather from this part. Which wasn't much, other than victimology pointed to an organised killer who had a point to prove.

"All three were in financial trouble, but who isn't in this climate, all three are divorced dads of girls. The girls aren't the same ages, and none of them go to the same schools. I have no direct link between the three. I shall keep sleuthing"

"Thanks Penelope" he said as Morgan hit the button to hang up.

"Hotch, we've got a whole load of nothing on this guy. We don't even know for sure how he's killing his victims yet." Morgan shook his head "How much help are we really being here"

"We'll know after Carrie, Reid and Beth are done at the autopsies" He replied, looking over to Morgan "This seems almost impossible at the moment, but you know how it goes, when we get one break, we'll get more"

"I sure hope you're right, Hotch, because so far I'm not sure what we can do. This isn't a typical killer, he isn't need based"

"Which means he has a target. If we find the target, we'll find who is doing it" Hotch shut the file and stood up. "Whatever his target is. He won't stop until he reaches it"

* * *

Bethan followed Carrie and Spencer down the corridor towards the autopsy suite, she put the scrubs on and walked into the room, seeing the three bodies laid out in front of her.

"So, what am I going to be looking for" she asked, looking over at Reid and Carrie. Reid quickly made his way across to the table which held the case files,

"First we're going to clean all this dirt off the bodies so we can do a more thorough exam than I did last night. We'll probably take some samples and run a few more tests, but for now let's just worry about finding any suspicious marks or wounds." Carrie explained, noting the pale colour of Bethan's cheeks

"So I just what... bath them?" Bethan replied, swallowing a hint of bile she had in her throat

"We'll roll them to that corner, see that shower head thingy hanging over there?" Bethan laughed as Reid interrupted Carrie's description with a cough and an eye roll. "Yeah that's totally the technical term." she joked to him, before turning back to Beth. "We can just roll them over there and wash them off. There's a drain in the floor. It might be a little messy but we just have to work with what we've got." Carrie rubbed her hands together, smiling at the thought of the job to come

"I really don't like getting messy. Spence, what are you doing? How about I let Carrie clean and help you?" Bethan asked, trying not to go near the bodies, and turning even paler by the minute,

" I really can't do anything until the bodies are clean…" Reid turned to her as he started speaking, then he looked around at the bodies, pulling a face. Carrie cleared her throat, causing Bethan to giggle

"Well you two can gather up all the equipment while I do this, I guess." She said, sounding resigned to Bethan avoiding helping with the body, and began rolling it towards the shower

"So, Dr. Reid, what exact equipment are we needing? Or should I just go and help Carrie" Bethan asked, smiling over his shoulder at the file

"This place is really unorganized...we need to find a saw, some scalpels, magnifying glasses, forceps, scissors, chisels, a hammer, probably a Gluck and some rib shears...Beth are you ok? You look like you're going to be sick." Reid asked, cottoning on to Bethan's paleness and clutching her stomach

"I've felt like I'm gonna be sick all day, that's why I'm here instead of the field. I'll start looking for this stuff. What's a Gluck?" she asked, looking confused, dropping her hand to her belt, Reid ignored her to begin with, and started looking through the cabinets, muttering about being disorganised,

"It's a bone cutter. It has a curved blade...here we go." Reid showed her a curved blade, if Beth had seen it outside of the lab, she'd have likely confiscated it as a dangerous weapon

"I think this is about as clean as he's going to get. Why don't we start and show Beth what to do so y'all can work while I clean the other two?" Carrie called from across the room

"That sounds like a plan. Carrie, is that offer of anti-nausea stuff still valid?" Bethan asked, flushing a deep red, she walked over towards Carrie's bag, knowing she'd carry whatever she needed

"There's a pill box in my medical bag over there, the top divider is the one you want." Carrie called, while helping Reid position the autopsy table. Bethan swallowed the pill and walked back over to them "Lets hope this works before I contaminate evidence" she joked, as Carrie and Spencer both pulled a protective shield over their faces, Reid reached one out to Bethan as she stepped up to the table

"You're going to want to put this on, Beth." he told her as she stood next to him

"I'm really not. I think I'm actually going to be sick. If this is a stomach bug I'm not going to be happy" she moaned, while snapping the shield over her face, Carrie turned to her an smiled

"That phenergan I gave you should kick in shortly. Could you just hold onto his arm for like, a minute?" Bethan took the arm, and caught Spencer's eye, he looked worried about her, she tried to give him a reassuring smile, but she thought it may have come across as more of a grimace. Carrie turn the saw on and started opening the chest, a second later she stopped as the sound of wretching reached her ears, she turned to see where Bethan was stood with a hand over her mouth

"Oh, Carrie, a little warning." She said weakly, Carrie turned her around before going back

"Puke in the drain!" she called back over her shoulder, watching as Reid shook his head, looking between the two women, as the sound of Bethan's vomit filled the room, a second later she looked up, as Carrie starts prying the ribs open

"next time, give me a little warning when you're going to do something gross when I'm feeling sick"

"Careful Spence, that's going to cut through your glove." she said, as Bethan caught sight of what they were doing and span back around, a few seconds later she turned back, looking green

"Tell me when I'm safe to stand up again. Or maybe I'll just sit on the floor with a bucket for a while"

"You should probably just go sit outside and drink a little water. This is just going to get worse." Reid said first, looking down at her, Carrie's eyes fell on her too,

"Yeah, and you probably threw up that pill so I'd grab another one. Sorry Beth!" Carrie said, far too cheerily. Bethan groaned and headed to the door

"Its alright. I need some air while you do this bit." She called back, before leaving to get some air.

* * *

Hotch watched as Reid sat Bethan down on a chair in the corner of the police department, he wanted to go over and find out how she was, but his sense of duty held him to talking to Carrie first

"What do you know?"

"Well, basically the same thing I knew at the scene. There are a couple possible drugs that could have paralyzed them but wouldn't show up in a tox screen. Garcia is looking into it, but since there's no way to really prove it, I don't know what else to do. I don't think we're going to get anything helpful from the bodies." Carrie stood in front of him, looking up,

"Any insects that we could send out for testing?" He asked sternly, willing to send anything off

"We could go back and try to get some from the scene, but I didn't collect any from the bodies. I really didn't find much of anything besides dirt." Carrie paused, thinking hard, Hotch could almost see her wheels turning "Which is strange, because if their mouths were open while they were buried, and they inhaled so much dirt, you'd think they would have ingested some kind of bug. But I didn't find anything." She shook her head, as if what she was thinking wasn't likely

"There are stranger things for us to discover. So you think it's likely that the victims are being drugged to stay unconscious and dying through suffocation of being buried alive?" He wanted that confirmation, so they could start thinking about the type of man he was

"They definitely died of suffocation from being buried, but I'm one hundred percent certain that they were conscious at some point before they died. There's no way they could have inhaled that much dirt without opening their mouths." She looked up at him again

"If I've learnt anything since getting with Beth, it's possible to have your mouth open when you're unconscious. How is she?" His voice changed as he asked that simple question,

"Ehhh, not so good. She puked as soon as I started the first autopsy. I should examine her and run a couple of tests, but I was kinda busy with three autopsies." she shook her head as they both looked over to the obviously sick Brit, who had her head between her knees, Reid rubbing her back.

"She's been ill a few days, coincided with the kids getting a bug. But they're all fine now, and she's just getting worse" he said gently, he was worried, and he was sure Carrie could tell

"I'll check on it. Just send her to me when we go back to the hotel." Carrie offered placing a hand on his arm, before looking up at him

"Will do, Thank you Carrie" he said, genuinely. Already heading over to where Bethan was sat

"No problem boss. This is why I'm here, right?" Carrie's laugh fell on no ears as Hotch pulled Bethan aside, and led her out. He got her into his SUV and headed back to the hotel. He could see she was too ill and tired to even argue with him. Once arriving at the hotel he realised she'd fallen asleep. Pulling her room card out of her jacket pocket he carried her upstairs. Smiling as he laid her on the bed, and covered her in the blanket. He was staying in the room with her until she woke, knowing Morgan could handle the briefing of what Carrie and Reid had learnt.


	3. Chapter 3

**Yeah, as you may have noticed that the clock is ticking down, and the beginning of the chapters is just... what's going through the head.**

**Once again thanks go to clarebones.**

He felt the blade as it was dug in beside him, measuring the dimensions needed for his narrow grave. Images of the last few days were coming back to him. He could remember why he was in the city, he remembered the UnSub they were chasing. As he thought he realised he had much to fight for. The knowledge spurred him into action. He rolled over, tried to push himself up, at least onto his knees. The man holding him was too fast, he got a glimpse of another man, or maybe a woman, standing a short distance away. He felt the fist raining on his face, and within moments, he remembered why he'd been playing silent in the first place.

-2 days earlier-

Bethan pushed herself up in bed. It had been bad enough falling asleep in the SUV, and having Aaron dithering over her while she was asleep, but since he'd left she'd been in the company of an irate Carrie, who couldn't believe her friend hadn't come to her sooner about her stomach pains. The fact that Aaron had become increasingly more convinced she was pregnant was not going a way to helping the situation. She hoped to head all this off, before she had to take the test.

"Carrie, I'm fine, just, confirm to Aaron that I'm not pregnant and am fine to be in the field today"

"I can't confirm shit to Hotch until you take the damn test." Carrie said, clearly annoyed. They'd been fighting about it for almost 25 minutes.

"Carrie you KNOW I'm not pregnant. For one thing you're the person who gives me an injection in my arse every three months. I'm fine. Its a bug I caught off the kids" She tried to push

"Well birth control fails sometimes. Ask my momma." Carrie pushed Bethan towards the bathroom, forcing the test into her hands "I don't know why you're so hell bent on not taking the test if you're sure it's going to be negative."

" Because I'm worried there is a chance it might NOT be negative. But it will be. Fine. I'll do the test if you'll just tell Aaron it's a bug. You're not gonna force me through a load of other tests after this one?"

"That depends" Carrie replied, in her best attempt at a mysterious tone

"On what?" Bethan retorted, sounding fearful

"On whether the test is positive or negative. If it's positive I don't need to test you for anything. If it's negative I'm going to need to take some blood." Carrie told her calmly.

"If it's positive I suggest you take that gun and shoot me, because if you don't Aaron will" Bethan said, with worry in her voice. She was worried, they hadn't been a couple too long,

"He will not, now do you want to do this the easy way, or the hard way? The hard way is where I cath you if you won't get in there and pee." Carrie said, not leaving an inch of wiggle room

"Fine. I'm going, I'm going" Bethan murmured, giving Carrie a sarcastic smile

"I want to see that thing when you're done. No flushing it and just telling me what you want me to think." Carrie once again put her authoritive tone on, leaving Bethan no option

"I'll pee on it and come right out" she rolled her eyes and shut the bathroom door, calling back out to Carrie as she got situated "you know... I would have done this in Quantico when we got home"

"Well you should have said something before we left! This job is too dangerous to play around with a possible pregnancy. I don't even want to imagine how pissed Spence would be if" she trailed off, Bethan could imagine her friend shaking her head. "I don't even want to think about that right now."

"OK, you time it and tell me the result, then do your blood tests" Bethan replied, coming out of the bathroom and watching Carrie pull on gloves

" Could you be any more difficult?" Carrie took the test then looked at her watch. "I'm going to sit it here on this napkin. It should only take a couple minutes." she smiled as Bethan sunk onto the bed, "You know, you and Hotch would have a really cute baby, anyway." Bethan shot back up, clearly making herself feel sicker, after a second she replied

"I could be more difficult. I could still be refusing to take the test" she scoffed at the last comment Carrie had made, reminding her of the three kids at home. "Aaron and I have 3 kids between us. Maybe one day... but... not now" she thought about having a baby with Aaron, she wasn't going to deny that.

"Well, I sure don't think it would be a bad thing if you ARE pregnant. I mean, your kids are so cute, and Jack, and Henry. Kinda makes me want to- No! I can not be talking like this!" Carrie shook her head vigorously, before catching Bethan's eye again.

"I don't think it would be necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunate, maybe. Terrible timing…" she trailed off, before thinking about the kids, she'd gotten a text early that morning that Ffion and Jack had been dissecting a dead rat the night before "My kids are obsessed with mutilating dead animals. and you're right. You can't be talking like that, you're still practically a kid yourself!" Bethan knew that she'd already had Ffion by the time she was Carrie's age, but she'd been a military wife, and they did things earlier. She didn't want to see Carrie sacrifice her young years the way Bethan had

"I haven't been a kid for a loooong time." Carrie sighed and looked away, before picking up the test "Your test should be ready." she stared at the result a second, making Bethan panicking "Well what do ya know, it's negative. Roll up your sleeve please and thank you."

"Thank god" She sighed, before rolling up her sleeve "I supposed I should tell Aaron the news, if you clear me to leave this room" she laughed at Carrie as she washed her hands and pulled on fresh gloves

"You can call him. I don't want you doing anything but resting until I get these results from the lab." she tied a tourniquet and gently pushed Bethan backwards on the bed. "You might want to lie down for this. Last time I had the stomach flu I puked when they stuck me to draw blood."

"Alright" she laid down, facing her arm. Carrie had gotten used to Bethan staring at the needle, whenever she needed anything she watched the needle. It had freaked Carrie out the first couple of times, "I'll call him when you leave. I promise I'll be good. Daytime TV it is. I could probably catch up on those Jeremy Kyle episodes my mum sends me" She trailed off, looking around the room for her bag. Carrie grimaced as she put the needle in, relaxing again when Bethan didn't throw up, she hoped that meant her friend was over the worst of the bug

"Ok, do whatever you want as long as it involves you sitting or laying in this bed." a few minutes and three vials of blood later Carrie took out the needle and placed a cotton bud to it. "You're all done for now. I'm going to take these over to the hospital. They're expecting me. Call if you need anything." she packed up her bag before continuing "Oh and Beth?"

"Yes Carrie?" Bethan replied wearily, pulling the DVDs out of her bag. She knew she always carried them for a good reason. Putting them in the room DVD player

"Please don't tell Spence all that stuff I said about babies and whatnot. I mean, you know how guys are about that kind of stuff." Carrie blushed, Bethan shook her head, having no idea what she was talking about, Beth realised Carrie likely wasn't sure how old she was when she had Ffion

"Well obviously not. I had Ffion when I was younger than you, Carrie. But your secret is safe with me. As long as you NEVER mention to Hotch the fact I thought there was a possibility I was" She said, glaring down her friend, a trick she had learnt from Hotch

"I won't, but you know Spence will wheedle it out of me."

"If you tell any of them. Spence will know all about your baby thoughts"

"I swear! I won't tell anyone!" Carrie was almost shaking as she headed towards the door, Bethan gave a small self-satisfied smirk before grabbing the TV remote as the Jeremy Kyle theme opened on the TV

"Good. Now. No baby yet, maybe next year" she stuck her tongue out and laughed as Carrie returned the gesture. "Now go" she waved Carrie towards the door, picking her phone up

"You behave in here. I'll call you as soon as I hear the results."

"Good, tell Aaron that someone else should drive, he'll need both his hands for his victory salute" Bethan laughed and flopped back onto the bed, pressing play on the remote as Carrie made it to the door. "I'll tell him after an episode" she said to nobody in particular, settling herself back against the headboard.

* * *

"Bossman, good news" Garcia said as soon as Hotch picked up the phone,

"What have you got Garcia"

"Well, I know what drugs were likely given to our victims" she said cheerily, he heard her typing in the background, she could multi-task like nobody he'd ever met before "I also found a more common link between our victims"

"Link first Garcia" he said, putting her on speaker as JJ and Reid walked into the conference room, Reid walked straight over to the map, he was getting annoyed that they needed another body before they could get a good idea of the man they were searching.

"Well, their link is one person. A divorce lawyer by the name of Anabelle Simonsen. They all saw her, but she wasn't who represented them through their divorces."

"That can't be a coincidence" JJ commented, before Garcia carried on

"Ahhhh, there is more yet, my loves. There are also three others who had been to see her who are now missing, she represented not a one."

"Great work Garcia, and the drugs?"

"Common date-rape drugs seem the most likely given that within days Carrie can't find a trace, Rohypnol, GHB… both came up in the search. I'll keep looking for any more links to Simonsen"

"Good job Garcia, keep it up" He said, before hanging up. He watched Morgan walk over to him, a grave look on his face.

"We've another body Hotch" Morgan said, handing the file over "Around the same age as the others,"

"Get Carrie over to do the autopsy now. Do we know any more"

"We've got some evidence this time" Morgan said, before grabbing Carrie's arm as she walked into the room and taking her the other way.

* * *

"We've got evidence this time, and it's a pretty solid lead to Anabelle Simonsen's husband, Greg." Hotch said, sitting on the edge of Bethan's bed as she ate some soup, they'd arrived back from the police station and he had watched most of his team troop to their rooms before he headed to Bethan's, he'd found her sat in the bathroom, Carrie's earlier optimism that she had passed the worst of whatever the bug was had clearly been misplaced. He'd gotten her up and back into bed before sharing the news

"You think you can catch them?" she asked, burping

"Well, she's in a failing business, she needs clients. These men all saw her, but then used another firm"

"Does it make you think twice about your lawyer?" She asked, smiling as she finally finished the soup, running her hand against his

"No. Never. I heard from security that you tried to escape twice today"

"You have security watching me!" she said with false ire

"I don't, Carrie does. She's worried about you"

"It's just a bug." Beth argued, before yawning and settling back to the bed. "I'm superbly bored sitting here alone all day. Even the Jeremy Kyle episodes I've watched haven't interested me too much"

"I know, you're used to being up, but you're obviously still sick Beth." he said, putting his hands on her shoulders and forcing her back against the pillows.

"I'm getting out tomorrow, one way or another" she huffed, looking at him like a child

"You can leave the room, don't even think of leaving the hotel" he smiled at her, hoping to head off her independent nature. He'd learnt she was worse than the kids when she was sick.

"Yes dad" she said, leaning forward momentarily and kissing him "I promise I'll be a good girl"

"Good. I'll come and check on you in the morning" He smiled as she settled back into the pillows, before he shut the door to her room he could tell she was asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

The thuds all around him made him unfocussed, he was no longer sure what was thudding, or how it was thudding, all he knew was the sensation of falling. He felt things falling over his head, but he could still hear whatever commotion was going on overhead. He felt the dirt cascading onto his face. He was too disoriented to do anything but try to bat it away. His arms felt too heavy. He remembered a line from the back of his mind, and took in a big breath, he new it would take long for him to succumb to breathing, probably sooner in the addled mindset he was in.

He heard a bang, then he stopped trying to focus.

-24 hours earlier-

Hotch looked down at the evidence recovered, the only tie to all the victims was Anabelle Simonsen. He had been unable to sleep, and had worked through the night on the profile they had just delivered, even though it was likely to be Anabelle Simonsen or her husband. He hoped Carrie had gotten some evidence off the spade and rag that had been left at the last crime scene. Hotch was sure they'd been disturbed, and that was why evidence was left. He turned abruptly as he heard footsteps approaching

"Ok boss, I have good news and bad news. What do you want to hear first?" Carrie asked as she caught his eye, deftly manoeuvring around the table between the two of them, and looking down to the objects of his attention, he thought over her question for a second, before looking at her

"Bad first, then hopefully the good will make it all better" he replied slowly, obviously still thinking.

"Well the bad news is I couldn't connect the rag or the shovel to Anabelle Simonsen and her husband." she shook her head, clearly annoyed that she'd been unable to confirm who the UnSub was

"The good?" Hotch prompted a second later, after he felt she'd paused long enough

"I did find prints on the shovel, and a hair on the rag that didn't match any of the victims. Garcia is running the prints now." She nodded, Hotch was glad that Garcia was on the job, and that she'd run the prints first against their two suspects, Greg and Anabelle Simonsen.

"So if we're lucky they will match to Anabelle or Greg Simonsen. What about the autopsy on the 4th victim?" he asked, listening intently to her description,

"Same as all the others. I'm pretty sure now that the UnSub is using date rape drugs to subdue the victims. If we can figure out how the victims were dosed, we might be able to backtrack to the UnSub. It's a long shot, but it's worth looking into." Carrie weighed options in her head, Hotch tried to do the same, but finding a suggestion the doctor wouldn't have thought of was almost impossible

"What about stomach contents of the victims? Wouldn't that hold evidence of the drug longer?" he asked, more for more information than him actually thinking, trying to get an opinion out of the doctor that she was unwilling to give without hard evidence.

"I doubt it will be helpful. Most likely they were dosed in a drink, which would be long gone by now." Hotch got what he was looking for, having been nearly certain. He thought for a second, before changing the topic, to one that was equally as important, the health of one of his team

"Have you had any results back on Beth? She wants to get back out." He asked. His personal feelings for the woman in his life meant nothing when they were out on a case

"It's a virus. She needs bed rest and plenty of liquids. I don't think she should be in the field for the next few days. If she's not doing better in the morning, I'm going to put her on an I.V." Carrie shook her head, no doubt thinking about how awkward Beth was when she was sick.

"She isn't going to stay still for that, Carrie, you know her as well as I do. I'm amazed she hasn't found a way to get down here already" He knew Beth too well. He knew the second her DVDs ran out, she'd be trying to get back out in the field.

"I'm telling you Hotch, she's not well. She needs to understand that, and so do you. This isn't like some common cold. She can't just "tough it out" and go on working, or she's going to get worse and worse." He could tell she was ill. It wasn't his choice that she be stubborn about her health. He wanted her to get healthy and be back to work as quickly as possible.

"I understand. Its been obvious she's been ill. The only reason she let you do the tests to begin with is because I was sure she was pregnant. Getting through to her that she's ill is going to be almost impossible." He wanted to stress that Bethan may love Carrie as her friend, but being a doctor, Carrie was Bethan's enemy when she was ill

"I've tried everything. I don't know what it's going to take, but I'll put her in the hospital if I have to." Hotch knew that Carrie would follow through with that threat if she felt Bethan endangered her health. He turned possibilities over in his mind, and almost all of them had him losing a part of his anatomy to one of the two women. He liked his anatomy as it was, but he knew the girls.

"I suggest leaving the I.V. She's taking liquids alright and keeping them down. My compromise is I take her some files to look over, and you take another blood test tonight, to see if she's recovering at all without the drip. Then tomorrow evening we can see if she's still ill about putting her on a drip. At least with some files she won't feel as useless" He suggested to Carrie, hoping she wouldn't outright shoot his suggestion down.

"Right, she can help from her room. I just need her resting. The virus needs to work its way out of her system, and she needs to be resting as much as possible to keep her strength." Hotch silently let out a breath, before realising he'd been incommunicado with the rest of the team for almost 2 hours

"I'll try to convince her of that. I think we'd best check in with the rest of the team." He led them out of the evidence room and headed to the rest of the team.

* * *

Reid had been working on the geographical profile since he now had slightly more distant points, they formed a rough parallelogram, the garage that Greg Simonsen owned was in the middle of his profile, as were a number of other likely places for the UnSubs. He was concentrating when he realised he cell was ringing, looking at the call id he clicked on

"Boy genius, I have something"

"What is it, Garcia?" He replied with just a touch of annoyance at being pulled away from what he'd been doing. He almost immediately regretted it.

"Grumpy today? The fingerprint isn't a match to Greg or Anabelle Simonsen... but because I'm a genius too I thought to check through their employees…" Garcia trailed off in only the way she could do. He waited a few seconds before snapping

"And?" He heard her sigh, and could imagine her shaking her head

"The fingerprint belongs to a someone who works for Anabelle Simonsen, Jeff Smith. Here is a sidenote, he was a mob hitman" He started to process that information, wondering what Garcia was implying.

"So do you think the mob could have something to do with this?" He asked,

"I doubt it, I'm just saying he's a really, really, really creepy good bad guy." He heard her shudder as she said that, and almost let out a snort of laughter, before wondering why she'd called him

"Have you called Hotch? He'll want to bring this Smith guy in for questioning."

"Nobody else was answering their cells! I don't normally call you do I genius." He was stung at first by her comment, before realising that it was the truth. "Can you pass it along?" She almost begged,

"I'm a little busy here, but I'll see if I can get a-hold of Hotch." This time he was the one sighing, thinking he would have to postpone his investigation into the geography. He would pay for Bethan to be there to help him. Garcia, as ever, picked up on his tone

"What's up genius?" he heard the concern in her voice as she asked, "I can't have my heroes down when they are doing something important"

"I don't know, this case is just getting more and more complicated, I'm worried about Beth, and Carrie isn't speaking to me. I just really want to get this over with, go home and try to get things back to normal." he unloaded more than he'd originally intended too,

"Its an awkward case, that's for sure. But you just gotta keep fighting the good fight." the tone of her voice changed as she moved onto the next part of his statement "You know Beth will be fine, Carrie won't let her get too ill I'm sure. I don't know what you've done so Carrie isn't speaking to you, maybe she's busy too." He shook his head at Garcia's words, he was sure Carrie was pissed at him for something, he just wasn't sure what

"I don't know what's going on, I just know I really want to solve this case, as soon as possible." he was almost praying for it, had he believed in a god

"It'll be solved soon, sweetie, you know you're nearly there. Hotch can bring Smith in, you'll get all the low down and you can arrest the bad guys and come home." she tried to pacify him, but his mind was working overtime now, and he had to finish the thoughts he'd started

"I really hope so. I have a bad feeling about this."

"You had a bad feeling about our last Star Trek night, that turned out great... apart from the hangovers." she joked, even he had to crack a reluctant smile at her jibe,

"Thanks, Garcia, you always find a way to cheer me up. I'll pass along your information"

"Call me anytime if you need to talk, genius boy." Garcia said as he hung up, calling the information through to Hotch.


	5. Chapter 5

He heard her calls from a distance, before he realised she was nearby. He felt her clawing at the dirt that covered him. He didn't know how she'd gotten out of her hole. Nobody had escaped yet, and he now understood why. He could barely focus on her gentle verbal prodding. How was she in control enough to dig him out, when he could barely concentrate on not breathing until she cleared enough for him to have air to breathe. He remembered she'd been ill.

"Aaron" she said again, as he felt her hand on his face. "Breathe, Aaron" she told him, and he believed her.

-12 hours earlier-

"I left Garcia and Morgan chasing down Smith" Hotch said, settling down next to Bethan on the bed, passing her a file to start reading through "They're going to call when they find something"

"You should be working, Aaron, you could have just dropped these files off and gone back" Bethan joked, trying to push him off the bed, even ill she was stronger than her tiny frame would show

"Beth, thanks to your illness we've had no time together recently. I just want a couple of hours with you" he laughed, righting himself, "the team can cover things. JJ is on with the press, Prentiss is helping Reid and Carrie while Morgan is working with Garcia. Ship shape." Hotch gave her a confused look, before realising that he had said something ridiculous,

"You just said ship shape" she managed to choke out through her laughter, before calming down enough to talk normally "I wish I'd recorded that."

"Beth, have you seen my cell?" Hotch scrambled round the bed, hoping to

"Nope, Not since you last came in anyway" Bethan started moving files, a few minutes later the both stopped, looking at each other and coming to the same realisation

"I must have left it down the hall, stay there" he motioned to Beth, before heading to the door,

"Not a chance, I haven't been out of this room in days" she bounced up, following him to the doorway

"Carrie will skin me alive" he shook his head, trying to motion Bethan back into the room

"She doesn't need to find out!" she followed him, grabbing her key-card on the way. Walking into his room she grabbed a glass of water and downed part of it. "That was a long walk"

"It was three rooms, Beth." He replied, finishing the water in the glass and sitting down on the bed, searching around it for where he had thrown his phone.

"I'm tired now, I might just have a sleep" She said, curling up on his bed, before bolting upright and to the bathroom. When she returned a few minutes later she curled up on the bed and pulled a pillow to her "I feel so ill"

"I told you, we'll stay here, I have some files I can go through" He smiled as she settled down.

Only minutes later he started feeling tired. The feeling almost alien to him. He couldn't remember the last time he had wanted to fall asleep before finishing an important piece of work, or before spending time with Jack and the girls. Whether on the phone or together.

He fought his growing exhaustion for almost a full hour, before succumbing and lying beside Bethan.

-6 hours later-

He woke disoriented. He was no longer where he had fallen asleep. Had he fallen asleep. He couldn't remember. He couldn't remember anything. Even his own name was a struggle at that moment.

"Aaron" he heard, over and over, he wondered who _Aaron was and why he wasn't answering._

_The thought eventually hit him, maybe he was Aaron._

_But who would be with him. In this… place…_

_He was still disoriented. He wanted to lie back down to sleep._

"_Aaron. Look at me" The voice said to him again. He focussed on the voice, it didn't stop._

_It was a woman's, soft, quiet. British._

_Suddenly, it all came back to him. Bethan. His room. Her sickness. Her sleeping. Him working. Then him sleeping._

_That was all in his hotel room though. Wherever they were now, it wasn't his hotel room. He sat himself up, slowly, and found Bethan's eyes._

"Aaron, I was so frightened I'd lost you." she said, "I think you've been dosed, strongly"

"But" he trailed off, blinking his way back to their reality slightly "they don't take women"

"They wouldn't have taken me if I hadn't woken up as they were trying to drag you out" she moved closer to him, "You should only have half their usual dose, as I had the water too, but then I threw up." She took his hand "You're probably still going to be dazed and easily confused, but you shouldn't be physically affected too much" he knew she'd spent too much time with Carrie in that instant.

"It's not the physical side that's bothering me" he said, lightly shaking his head and regretting it almost instantly. Any movement caused him pain and more confusion. Though finally Bethan was appearing in focus for a few minutes. "How come you aren't all… fluff"

"I'm sick, remember. I must have thrown it all up before I metabolised it." She smiled lightly. "You won't figure out where we are. We're in a van. Have been for about 30 minutes. Not moving now though." she finished. Looking at him.

They both stiffened as the door was unlocked. He blinked against the street light as he was dragged out of the van. He couldn't let them take Bethan. But he was really in no position to try to help her. He stumbled over to where he was thrown to the floor. All went dark again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey, you, reading this... THANK YOU FOR STICKING AROUND UNTIL THE END! This is the final chapter, and I'm not sure when the next one will be written. Sorry about that folks. I'm back to working with my canon characters for a while!**

* * *

She had never felt as scared as she did in the moments she watched him fall. It was only seconds before she was pulled out and to the ground as well. She knew the profile had been dead on. Except the partner hadn't been her husband, but her employee. She played along, acting as if she was still under the influence of whatever drug they'd given her. It wasn't too hard, as she was feeling sicker by the minute, but she had to control it all while Aaron was in danger, while she herself was in danger. She memorized where they put things. How they talked. She tried not to move much. She had gotten used to seeing the woman, Beth couldn't remember her name, being stood on solid ground, away from the digging that the man was doing. The first time she felt Hotch stir she realised he felt he had more control, he fought against the man digging the hole. She heard the crunch as he used the spade against Aaron's head.

The worst was holding herself limp as she was thrown, unceremoniously into the first hole dug. She realised they must have thought her a bigger threat than Aaron. As it was clear she was less under the influence than he was.

She took a deep breath as the first pile of soil and mud was pushed over her. She held her breath as for a few seconds, then gently started clearing it away from her mouth. She had to do it slowly, so that they wouldn't notice, and by the time she had a hole large enough to breathe through she could hear Aaron putting up a last few minutes of fight. She managed to get her head clear by the time she heard the grunt of him being taken down once again.

Once her head was free, it was simple enough to gently lever herself out of the hole she was in, she looked around, the woman was cackling as Aaron was kicked, once, twice. It hurt Bethan to watch him in pain, but she knew what she had to find. It only took a moment for her to find the gun she'd seen them place when they dragged them down. While they both had their backs turned she took a warning shot, missing them both.

The woman scampered away, while the man approached Bethan, she took a shot, hitting him in the shoulder, but he appeared to barely notice, so she aimed lower, she hit him on the knee. As he fell she looked round for the woman, but she was long gone, and she had Aaron to worry about now. Although letting a criminal escape was not something she'd planned on doing Aaron needed her now. She ran over to him and started calling out. Telling him not to breathe while digging through. His grave was as shallow as hers had been. Once she had cleared his face she gently told him to breathe again. She pulled him out and ran up the side to the road and screamed

"Help. Federal agent down!" she shouted, two people ran over to her.

"Can I help" the first man said, he couldn't be older than 23

"Call the police. Say SSA's Hotchner and Callahan are… wherever the crap we are… and we need medical assistance" she fell to the floor in a heap, unable to stay on her feet for a moment longer.

* * *

He woke laid down. Paramedics leaning over him. He was only vaguely aware of what had gone on the last few hours, but the worry at the front of his mind was Beth.

"Beth" he croaked out. Trying to lift his arms and finding them unresponsive

"She's alright, Agent Hotchner. Please relax" the paramedic above him said, shining a light into his eyes. He stopped trying to get up, but he wanted to know how she was really. He needed to talk to some of his team, especially to Carrie. He let the medics work, and when he woke again he felt much more clear headed. He looked over and saw Morgan asleep in the chair next to his bed. He wondered what time it was. He reached over and shook Morgan awake,

"What time is it?" was the first question he asked, watching as Morgan squinted at his watch..

"A little after 9am. Nice to have you back with us boss"

"How's Beth?" he asked fearfully

"In a worse way than you. She was severely dehydrated and was suffering exhaustion. She's in the ICU, Carrie's with her, she's been awake and complaining" Morgan replied with a smile "as soon as Carrie signs you as fit you can go find her.

"The UnSub?" he coughed. Seeing the curtain rustle and Carrie come around.

"We have Jeff Smith in custody, here in the hospital. Anabelle Simonsen got away. She's in the wind. Greg Simonsen passed a polygraph, he had no idea what was going on." Morgan informed him as Carrie took his vitals.

"OK, Hotch. You're good to go. I'll sign your discharge papers, I'm sure Morgan can take you to Beth" he smiled gratefully as Morgan first passed him some clothes. After he dressed he followed Morgan to the bed Beth was laid in. She was asleep as they arrived. Hotch sat next to her, taking her hand and wrapping his fingers around hers. He couldn't believe how much he loved this woman.

"Aaron" she croaked, gently turning towards him.

"You look terrible" he laughed, reaching forward and kissing her. She returned his kiss with just as much enthusiasm.

"Hey you two. I haven't cleared you for that yet. Beth, we're sorting out to get you transferred to DC. I'll be travelling with you. Hotch you're going with the rest of the team." Carrie said with a grin. Hotch kissed Beth again and left. He leant against the wall outside her room for a moment. Thinking about them. Would they go through a case without one, or both, of them ending up in hospital.


End file.
